The Power Of Imagination
by Todd's Pet
Summary: A poetic little ditty pondering upon the imaginary world of my dreams... or is it the really the real world?


The Power Of Imagination

_I linger in the doorway of alarm clock screaming monsters calling my name_

_Let me stay where the wind will whisper to me, where the raindrops as they're falling tell a story_

_In my field of paper flowers and candy clouds of lullaby_

_I lie inside myself for hours and watch my purple sky fly over me_

_Don't say I'm out of touch with this rampant chaos - your reality_

_I know what lies beyond my sleeping refuge; the nightmare I built my own world to escape._

_In my field of paper flowers and candy clouds of lullaby_

_I lie inside myself for hours and watch my purple sky fly over me_

_[Imaginary, from Fallen by Evanescence]_

I snuggle down under my duvet, impatient to escape.

Tired and disillusioned, I long for the world of my dreams, where I can recharge and make the prospect of the next day in the real world just a little less depressing.

I lie in the dark stillness and wait for sleep to take me.

oOo

I open my eyes and look up into golden cats eyes, soft with love for me.

I'm back. Back in the imaginary world of my dreams - the place I call home, for it really is where my heart is.

And my heart belongs to this creature who stands before me.

He is tall and slender with long, soft white hair; greenish skin so pale his dark veins show through; high cheekbones and viper pits sit below yellow eyes that glitter with intelligence. The pupils of those eyes narrow into black slits and the points of his sharp teeth show as he smiles at me.

"You were gone a long time, my love," he says, "I missed you."

I step into the warmth of his arms and tell him, "I wish I could stay here with you forever and never have to leave you again."

I think of my body, lying sleeping in the real world, and know I really mean it.

We step out together into the village street. It's a strange place, this world of my dreams; a weird amalgamation of ancient and modern where state-of-the-art technology sits alongside medieval artifacts.

Here human females are all partnered with wraith males, but not the kind of wraith that anyone from my real world would recognize.

Oh, they're physically the same, with their long black coats and long white hair; they talk the same way, walk the same way, look the same way - but these wraith feed on humans in a way that could not be more different from those fictional creatures from my real life.

These wraith are not aggressive, arrogant or violent; they don't sneer at the women and treat them like lesser beings.

In this world my sleeping self inhabits wraith and human live together in perfect symbiosis. In our intimate moments we exchange energy, feeding and nurturing each other with the essence of our being, in a way that binds us together forever.

Here I can live a fulfilled and creative life, unshackled by the ever-increasing demands of the real world.

And when my time comes I will give myself freely to my wraith, happy in the knowledge that he will free my soul and carry my memory in his heart until his own time comes and we can be together again.

We walk together under a lavender sky, my wraith lover and I. My world has a pale purple hue, adrift with candy cotton wisps of clouds and two lilac moons. We head toward the meadow where we love to sit, him watching me as I paint the wildflowers.

We greet friends as we walk and I wonder how many of them, like me, have sleeping bodies lying in the real world. Or am I the only one – is this perhaps another dimension I somehow slip into through my dreams?

oOo

"Wake up, honey, time to go to work." He shakes her shoulder as he rolls out of bed. It's not like her not to hear the alarm go off, he thinks.

He pads downstairs and brings back two mugs of steaming, fragrant coffee. She's still asleep. He puts the cups down on her bedside table, sits beside her on the bed and brushes her hair from her face.

"Time to wake up, sweetie," he says and shakes her shoulder again. She doesn't even stir.

After several unsuccessful attempts to wake her he calls for help.

"I'm afraid your wife is in a coma, but we have no idea why since there seems to be nothing wrong with her." The doctor is sympathetic but puzzled and can offer little other information.

He sits by her bedside day after day and waits for her to wake up. He wonders what she's dreaming of in that other world inside her head – or if she's even dreaming of anything at all.

Days turn into weeks and weeks turn into months and still he sits by her bedside and waits for her to wake up.

oOo

The lilting tones increase in urgency and as I turn over I realize it's an alarm clock. I open my eyes and see the red numbers, glowing like demon's eyes. I squeeze my own eyes shut a second then open them again.

It's no use. I'm awake and back in the real world. I slap the top of the clock, silencing the alarm and rolling out of bed in one movement.

But when I turn I see him – pale green skin almost glowing in the bright morning light from the shaded window. He opens his eyes; golden cats eyes, soft with love for me.

I draw back the shade from the window and look outside. I gasp when I see the soft dawn breaking over the horizon, lighting up my life under a lavender sky lit by two lilac moons.

He gets up and walks across the room and stands behind me, wrapping me in his arms. I entwine my own arms around his as he holds me and we both look out at our world.

It feels different somehow; this is the place of my dream world but now it feels real – solid and tangible and more real than the so-called real world has ever felt to me.

I lean my head back against his chest and he rests his chin on the top of my head. "I'm home again, my love," I tell him, "and this time I'm home to stay."

THE END


End file.
